VENUES AND SPORT 26 Building the Games Volume One Chapter Two Y AUTHORIT N CO-ORDINATIO C PETERS/OLYMPI B BO The curved roof of the grandstand, which looks like a sail famous Wimbledon Number 1 Court, the centre court evokes floating in space, sits 25 m above the ground and is suspended memories of the home of tennis. from a 41 m high mast. This innovative design means there are no columns above the seating platform and all spectators The Centre's most distinctive feature, the circular centre court get an uninterrupted view of the action on the field, with its stadium, was awarded first prize in the 2000 Royal Australian balsam 91.44 x 54.86 synthetic pitches, for warm-up and Institute of Architects annual awards. 26. Sydney's Archery Park, competition. A hockey pitch and small grandstand next door surrounded by mangrove had been the home of hockey in New South Wales since it The Tennis Centre also has two show courts, seven match wetlands, features an was opened in 1984. This pitch became a warm-up pitch courts and six practice courts. All have the preferred north- artwork comprising two during the Olympic hockey tournament. south orientation to optimise playing conditions. sculptural pole forests made from 185 recycled Sydney International Archery Park Visitors approach the Tennis Centre down the tree-lined Olympic electricity poles 27. The NSW Tennis Centre Boulevard and enter by bridges through a casuarina grove on is set near the remediated Playing host to an amazing medal haul for South Korea, the the banks of Boundary Creek. A racecourse and horse stud Boundary Creek, a Archery Park is one of the simplest yet most elegant of all existed on the Tennis Centre land during the mid-nineteenth beneficiary of the Olympic venues. century and the site was the home of the Australian Jockey environmental initiatives Club between 1841 and 1869. on the site Building of the archery complex began on a 6.5 ha site adjoining the Haslams Creek and Mangrove Creek wetland 27 areas in Homebush Bay in February 1998. Six months later, the A$3 million Sydney International Archery Park was officially opened, part of a network of open space forming the Millennium Parklands. The centre consists of open space for the archery fields and a multi-purpose pavilion. The building design is distinctly Australian, suggesting either a beach umbrella or a lean-to hay shed. A temporary grandstand seating 4500 people was erected to cater for Olympic and Paralympic spectators. The Archery Park is enveloped by the impressionistic 'Forest of Poles' artwork, which evokes the long sleek lines of the arrows used by competitors. NSW Tennis Centre Located at the southern end of Olympic Boulevard, the NSW Tennis Centre is the gateway to Homebush Bay. Its sprawling outside courts are one of the first sights visitors get of the Y massive Olympic precinct. AUTHORIT N The Tennis Centre's 10 000-seat amphitheatre-style centre court is the showpiece of the venue. The centre court is CO-ORDINATIO designed to meet the needs and comfort of spectators, with C the circular shape providing optimal seating and viewing locations. The innovative roof design provides shade to 70 per PETERS/OLYMPI B cent of the seats. Built by the same people who designed the BO 2. Venues and Sport 69 VOLUME ONE THE GAMES competition sessions. The 10 m diving platform was expanded television world. National Broadcasting Company (NBC) and Competing from a width of 2 m to 3 m to comply with IF rules governing European Broadcasting Union spoke highly of the presentation. at the Games synchronized diving. Volume One Venue Chapter Two Swimming: the one start rule was instigated for the Sydney 2000 Games. The Sydney International Archery Park, where all events in the Olympic archery competition were contested, is located at SOP. Archery The 6.5 ha site adjoins the wetland areas in Homebush Bay and is part of a network of open space forming the 18. The Sydney International Archery Park played host The format of the archery competition obviously appealed to Millennium Parklands. The permanent facilities will provide to the largest archery the crowd. In most matches, the result came down to the last a legacy to archery in Australia and were designed to take tournament ever held in arrow and the crowd reacted to perfect shooting with a cry of full advantage of the environmental conditions. The Sydney Australian history "10, 10, 10, Do it again!" The new breed of competitive archer International Archery Park had a Games-time seating capacity 19. Athletes and officials drew strength and confidence from the positive crowd support. of 4500. alike were pleased with the This was evident when Simon Fairweather won the gold medal venue and the performance for Australia on the back of an ebullient home crowd. The venue was within a few bow-shots of the Olympic Village. of the 600 venue staff This was almost unprecedented in Olympic archery and The high emotion on the sporting field was matched by athletes benefited from the short trip times and the ability to 18 the spirit of the competition team. Part of the reason for vary their training schedule to suit weather conditions. the remarkable enthusiasm was due to introducing all team Spectators used a shuttle bus from transport nodes in Sydney members to the 'art of archery', giving them the opportunity to Olympic Park or walked the 2 km to the venue. T experience the sport on the very same field where champions would be determined. Field of Play MCNAMARA/ALLSPOR N A highly exciting format was presented to both the spectators The turf archery field was divided into two fields of play, DARRE at the venue via the large on-site video screens, and to the the competition field and the adjacent training and warm-up field. Underground drainage had been incorporated into the 19 fields including a rapid 'soak through' area in the vicinity of the shooting line. The competition field had eight targets and the practice field 22 targets. Target faces were selected by SOCOG tender from FITA licensed supplier(s). Swiss Timing provided timing and scoring equipment under the IBM results contract. An athletes' rest area with information and refreshments was available for athletes as they proceeded to the practice field. A continuous covered shade, 4 m in width stretched the full length of the practice field and provided protection from sun and rain. Tables and chairs were provided for athletes waiting their turn for practice. Training sites Sydney International Archery Park 2-22 September If scheduling of training became necessary, information was made available at the Sports Information Desk at the competition venue and also at the Sports Information Centre at the Olympic Village. All training sessions were open to media. Media could request athlete interviews through competition management. Number of Athletes and Teams The quota for archery was 64 men and 64 women. There was a maximum of three male and three female archers per NOC. T Competition Format BLAIR/ALLSPOR H Day one ranking round: The 128 archers shot the ranking HAMIS round, women in the morning and men in the afternoon. 104 2. Venues and Sport THE GAMES UNFOLD resounded through the stands, becoming one of the popular hallmarks of the Games. This chant, originally heard at the Day 5 Sydney Cricket Ground, is of obscure origins, but it certainly Volume Two Chapter Three reaffirmed its popularity at the Sydney 2000 Games. Day 5 also highlighted the success of the overall planning program for Olympic venues in Sydney, with the various venues DAY 5 – WEDNESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER proving how well suited they were to the particular nature of the sports they were showcasing and to promoting those sports. 2 The Tin Symphony of the Opening Ceremony had a careful and cohesive overall design. But within its composition of metal, For sports in which Australians had had little experience, the colour and noise, a number of ingenious and individualistic Olympic Games aimed to be the start – to encourage longer small objects drew the eye. term enthusiasm for particular sports, and for sport in general. N For example, the belief was that bringing people to the Like the Tin Symphony, Day 5 of the Games showed evidence purpose-built Penrith Whitewater Stadium for international COMMISSIO S of an overall program to support individual effort. For some competition would encourage them to use the facility after SPORT time before the Sydney 2000 Games, Australian sporting the Games, allowing them to learn the risky sport in a N bodies had been formulating and carrying out programs to regulated facility rather than in a wild, unpredictable river. AUSTRALIA support individual athletes, and this planning now paid off with a victory in archery. The Whitewater Stadium at Penrith Lakes, the only one of its 1. The home crowd at the kind in the world, was highly praised by athletes and spectators Sydney Games proved to On Day 5 Simon Fairweather won five sudden-death matches alike for enabling the best to be derived from the sport. The be colourful and creative in a brilliant display of skill to win Australia's first gold medal horseshoe design enabled the sellout crowds in the packed in their decor and vocal in their support in archery. Three years earlier, Australia's Athlete Olympic stands and on the banks of the course to learn about the sport 2. A javelin thrower is tested Program (AOP) had hired one of the world's most accomplished at its best, while athletes and coaches could follow every step in the Biomechanics Dome.